12 PROCTOR | June 2017
Access to justice: It all
comes down to funding
QLS scorecard reveals profession’s key concerns
Since 2013, Queensland Law
Society (through its Access
to Justice and Pro Bono Law
Committee) has conducted an
annual survey of lawyers to gauge
their views about the state of
access to justice in Queensland.
In the 2016 Access to Justice Scorecard, lack
of funding for legal assistance was yet again a
key concern identified by Queensland lawyers.
In April, community legal centres
(CLCs) across Australia secured a major
commitment by the federal Attorney-General
to reverse funding cuts of 30% that were
set to commence this month. While this
was welcome news, barriers remain for
Queenslanders to access the legal help
they need, and the justice they deserve.
Lack of funding for legal help
In every scorecard since 2013, Queensland
lawyers have persistently reiterated their
concerns about the parlous state of funding
for all pillars of the legal assistance sector.
1
The
legal profession knows that a well-functioning
system requires its frontline agencies to be
properly resourced; making services jostle
for meagre resources can never adequately
deliver justice for vulnerable people.
Last year, Queensland CLCs provided legal
help to almost 60,000 people, but an equal
number were turned away. People suffer –
they lose their children; their livelihoods;
their money; their hope.
People like Rachel, a single mother of two
whose former partner is abusive and threatens
her safety and that of her two sons. While
Rachel is trying to formalise the divorce, she is
also forced to seek a domestic violence order.
Without a community lawyer representing her,
Rachel’s legal problems would have multiplied.
Or Dave, who started a traineeship after
he left school. Dave’s boss refused to pay
him for the overtime he worked and sacked
him when he complained, months before
the end of his traineeship. A community
lawyer helped Dave negotiate the system
to recover his unpaid wages.
Or Arlia, who got help from a community
lawyer to escape her violent husband
and apply for protection, having arrived
in Australia on a spousal visa.
Funding cuts – no way
to run a business
The proposed funding cuts to CLCs were
announced in 2013, prior to the introduction
of a National Partnership Agreement on Legal
Assistance Services that was intended to
provide funding certainty until 2020. Instead,
this sword of Damocles has undermined efforts
to deliver services to Queensland clients.
For months, CLCs have been planning
to implement cuts on the ground. CLC
staff are leaving for jobs with greater certainty
and stability. Entire programs have been
wound back or closed, with more vulnerable
clients being turning away.
When the Queensland Government
announced how the Federal Government’s
funding reduction would be shared across
the state in March2 more legal programs
were placed at risk, including specialist help
for Aboriginal mothers on Palm Island; young
people leaving state care; people leaving
prison without adequate support.
As QLS president Christine Smyth said at
this year’s QLS Symposium: “Our CLCs are
in a state of crisis and are heading toward
extinction due to the federal funding fiscal
cliff; their future is now at risk. This means
that basic justice... is being denied in
particular to tens of thousands of people
who are disadvantaged in our community
each year.”
3
Unexpectedly, the Federal Government
announced that the funding would be
reinstated following sustained advocacy
from a broad alliance of lawyers, churches,
unions, opposition/cross-bench/state
MPs, universities and community groups,
and strong media coverage. Professional
associations including QLS played a key role,
with the Attorney-General acknowledging
that “[t]he legal profession, in aggregate,
has been active and influential in engaging
with the Government and once again, it is
as a result of that engagement that these
decisions ... have been made”.
4
Looking ahead
The decision to reinstate funding to CLCs
is welcome, but it only reverses imminent
damage and does nothing to future-proof
the legal assistance sector from further
cutbacks. Nor does it inject any new money
into an already overburdened system. The
Productivity Commission conservatively
estimates that $200 million a year is needed
for legal providers to expand their services.
To put this funding need in context, $200
million is only slightly more than a quarter
of what the Commonwealth Government
annually spends on external legal services.5
Access to justice and innovation
Sustainable, recurrent funding also helps
to drive innovation in the legal assistance
sector. The use of technology to reduce
costs for parties and to simplify complex
court procedures requires an investment in
human and technical resources. A number of
sentiments expressed in the 2016 Scorecard
focused on how much more could be
done to embrace innovations in modern
technology, especially to assist increasing
numbers of self-represented litigants
appearing in court.